Bay Minette, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bay Minette, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Bay Minette lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Bay Minette — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bay Minette — the short answer
Bay Minette, Alabama: USDA zone 9a, about 297 days between hard freezes, across 11K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 12
- Baldwin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Baldwin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~297
- Baldwin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 11K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Baldwin County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Bay Minette's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bay Minette's 297-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bay Minette
Each reading below is measured for Bay Minette itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBay Minette runs about 297 days between hard freezes (read from Baldwin County, the closest normal to Bay Minette) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredBay Minette sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Bay Minette is in
Bay Minette sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Bay Minette's own centroid rather than borrowed from Baldwin County.
What Grows in Bay Minette
Every plant below cleared Bay Minette's own zone 9a and its 297-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bay Minette?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Bay Minette
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bay Minette. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BAY MINETTE R R TOWERUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- BAY MINETTE MIDDLE SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- TRACTOR SUPPLY COMPANY #1440Brownfields · 2200 ft
- WAL-MART SUPERCENTER #2739Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- QUINCY COMPRESSORBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- MURPHY USA #6735Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- BAY MINETTE CREW HEADQUARTERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- NORTH BALDWIN INFIRMARYBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- RACEWAY #6712 ATHENSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- SUMMIT FOOD STORE #41Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- L J & J W HINOTEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- CVS PHARMACY #4938Brownfields · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bay Minette's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Bay Minette.
Total Sites
121
within ~10 miles of Bay Minette
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bay Minette
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bay Minette
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bay Minette, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Bay Minette — Toxics Release Inventory (9 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (81 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Bay Minette
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bay Minette average
Your land is one point inside Bay Minette
Everything above resolves to Bay Minette as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 11K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Baldwin County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’s own centroid. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at city scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Bay Minette Average
Bay Minette Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Bay Minette
- ●One soil character for all of Bay Minette
- ●Frost dates read at Bay Minette's scale: Feb 12 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bay Minette's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bay Minette
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bay Minette, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bay Minette averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bay Minette — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bay Minette average
How we know this about Bay Minette
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Baldwin County’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Bay Minette
When does frost risk typically end in Bay Minette?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bay Minette typically lands around Feb 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Mar 5.
When is the first frost in Bay Minette?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bay Minette typically arrives around Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 22, so the watching starts about Nov 6 — about 297 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bay Minette?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bay Minette sees about 297 frost-free days — roughly Feb 12 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 5 to Nov 22, about 262 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bay Minette?
The federal record around Bay Minette shows 121 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (81), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Bay Minette?
From about Nov 6 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Dec 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Dec 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bay Minette's scale — its 9a band and its 297-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bay Minette's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Bay Minette’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Bay Minette's own scale — the 11,048 acres it covers and 121 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bay Minette's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 121 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bay Minette, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bay Minette's boundary and the 11,048 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~297-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bay Minette's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Bay Minette has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Baldwin County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bay Minette's 11,048 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Baldwin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Baldwin County
- The growing challenges every Alabama grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Alabama
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Baldwin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bay Minette's 11,048 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bay Minette you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 11,048 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Bay Minette-wide figureread your own land →
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